Why work in 3D?

Many of you out there watching this training probably have a solid foundationin Photoshop and are wondering, why delve into this whole big scary world of 3D?In this movie, I hope to give you some persuasive reasons to dig a littledeeper. One of the biggest reasons I think that 2D designers can benefit fromusing 3D is the flexibility of using 3D.Let's say for example, I have this layout here of this medicine caplets kind offalling towards the viewer. Now you could easily create something like this inPhotoshop with just the standard 2D tools.

But let's say your client says, "hey, you know what? Rotate this capsule.""Tilt it more towards the viewer." Well then, you are going to have a hard time.You'll have to repaint the gradients, you'll have to re-warp this text, and allthat you did to fake this 3D caplet.But if it's an actual 3D object, then you could simply click on it in 3D space,and move it where you want it to go. You can rotate the text, you could changethe text, you could move this, you can scale it even, you could do whatever youwanted to it because it is a three-dimensional object.

You could even re-light it or in Photoshop CS4 Extended, you can even shrink itor extend it. Now another reason to use Photoshop CS4 Extended, if you are intovideo and animation, you can now in Photoshop CS4 Extended animate in 3D space.Later on this training series, we'll show you how to do just that. We have this jet, it's a 3D model and as it flies, we rotate it in 3D space, which ispossible now in Photoshop CS4 Extended.Another reason to get into 3D is because of lighting. Lighting is such apowerful thing and in 2D we have to fake it, but when we are working in 3D,we can actually move spot lights around an object.

We could change the intensity of the light and where the light is coming from.We can even change the type of light and you saw how quickly and easily I did this, and how tough that would be with traditional lighting effects such asCurves or Levels.3D can also enhance your photography. Later on in this training series, I'll beshowing you how to wrap a panorama around a sphere and that allows you tocreate these awesome helicopter views as if you were moving around an object.

Look at that. Basically that was just this photo and this is mapped to theinside of the sphere, which Photoshop CS4 Extended will do for you, and now wecan move around this in 360 degrees.So whether you want to enhance the way that your photos are displayed or to beable to play with real world lights, to animate in 3D, to have the flexibilityof 3D, 3D is for all users of photographic software.

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Released

2/17/2009

The 3D capabilities in CS4 move Photoshop into a new dimension of image creation. Adobe Certified Instructor Chad Perkins reviews the new 3D panel in Photoshop CS4, and demonstrates how to use 3D files in other applications, such as Bridge and After Effects. Chad reviews the basic 3D workflow, and then explores techniques for using cameras and perspective, creating 3D scenes from photos, working with layers, manipulating 3D objects, and even creating 3D animation. For users who want to go a little deeper, Chad introduces advanced methods for working with materials, rendering, and layers. Photoshop CS4 Extended for 3D adds powerful tools to any designer's creative arsenal. Exercise files accompany the course.